It was a 60 mile day yesterday into McKenzie Bridge (the name of the town). Great ride out of Eugene along the Willamette River and some very quiet back roads.
Along the way I ran into Jeff (another one). He’s from Wisconsin and is trying to do as much of the route as he can in six weeks. Very nice guy. We stopped at a grocery store to get a sandwich and ate it outside. Jeff was sitting on the ground directly in the hot sun. He was already as red as a tomato from a few days of riding. I was thinking, “Jeff, don’t you want to use some sunscreen?” We also met a guy at the store named Charlie who was heading in the opposite direction. He started out from Yorktown on May 22 and only had one more day to go.
We rode together for the rest of the day into McKenzie Bridge, following another river called the Blue River, which offered some great views from the road.
The US Forest Service campground was full, with it being the weekend it’s busier. So Jeff and I were able to get sites at a place just up the road. A fancier campground which actually has internet and where I’m writing from now.
Today is the first day of real climbing, which was a surprise to me when I looked at the maps yesterday. I’m at just over 1200 feet now and need to go to 5324 feet to the top of McKenzie Pass. I climbed a smaller pass on the first day and was cruising along at 4.1 miles per hour. If that’s the case today, it could be more than a four hour climb.
Looks fabulous Dan good luck with the climb
Thank you Suzanne. It was a rough one, but good practice for the rest of them!